Seth Rogen still has a big question about the Sony hacks from 'The Interview'

It was supposed to be a fun comedy about the assassination of Kim
Jong Un. It turned out to be a movie that sparked an
international incident — at least, we think.

It was June 2014 when news broke that the North Korean government
was aware of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s comedy “The
Interview,” in which Rogen and James Franco play journalists who
are granted an interview with Kim Jong Un and have been tasked by
the CIA to kill him.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry stated that the US would face “stern” and
“merciless” retaliation if the film were released. Hoping to calm
the waters, the studio behind the film, Sony, pushed the release
date from October to Christmas of that year for digital tweaks of the movie in the hopes of
not offending North Korean officials, even altering the death
scene of Kim Jong Un.

On November 24, a group known as the “Guardians of Peace”
hacked the company networks of Sony Pictures, releasing
internal emails, employee records, and recent Sony movies onto
the internet. Then on December 16, the hackers threatened to
attack any theater that showed the movie, leading Sony to pull
the title from theaters. (Only a handful of independent chains
showed it.) The movie was made available online instead.

North Korea has never claimed responsibility for the hack, and
it’s something that Rogen and Goldberg, who cowrote and directed
the film, still wonder about.

“And we still work with a lot of the same people,” Rogen added.
“We're making a movie with Amy Pascal [the former head of Sony,
who stepped down after the hack]. We're in the same places a lot.
We're dealing with the same marketing people. It's impossible not
to bring it up. And we still debate whether or not it was North
Korea.”

When asked if they got a lot of dirty looks around the Sony lot
at the time of the Sony hack, Rogen laughed.

“Oh yeah, lots of people,” he said. “That ended eventually. But
every once in a while people are still surprised to see us
there.”

Rogen said that “time heals all wounds” and that he and Goldberg
have a good relationship with Sony now. The studio will be
releasing their upcoming movie, the R-rated comedy “Sausage
Party” — out in theaters August 12.

One thing the hack didn't affect, they say, is how they approach
comedy writing. Well, with the exception of one topic.

“I would probably maybe not make a thing about North Korea
again,” Rogen said. “We played that card, and all I can say is,
touché.”